A user of virtual reality, by use of the hardware, is able to see objects and environments in three dimensions and is able to move around in such an environment. The hardware of VR is simple, it relies upon a basic stimulus response reaction between the user and the hardware. NASA Scientists have developed a three-dimentional computer simulation of a human leg which surgeons can operate on by entering the computer world of virtual reality. These kinds of stimulus exist in many forms and mediums of our every day lifes and history. Mediums such as interactive television, internet, and even so much as reading a book can be considered being lost in the realms of cyber space.
The word "cyberspace" was first used by William Gibson in his book "Burning Chrome" in 1982. William Gibson refers to cyber space as "A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts. A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the non space of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding." I feel that Gibson is suggesting that cyberspace is not just experienced in interactive technology but is the space of interactivity between communication media. A good example of this is communication through internet chat. when talking to someone over the net we are neither where we seem to be or where the other person is but somewhere in between. This idea is described by Nicholas Mirzoeff who argues that when we"re on the telephone we are experiencing virtual reality, where we are in the space between to points of communication. Perhaps one of the easiest examples to understand is act of day dreaming, in which many of us get caught up in a world of our own consciousness. when we wake up, many of us utter the phrase " I was in a world of my own" and this is perhaps a lot like cyberspace but Is the concept of cyberspace a new one?.
